Fig. 9

Physical structure, circularization, and packaging mechanism of a phage with cohesive ends. a Structure of DNA inside phage virion before infection. Phages with cohesive ends can have 3’ or 5’ overhangs. b Shortly after infection, the sticky ends are ligated. The chromosome is replicated via rolling circle replication during the lytic phase. c Exactly one genome length is packaged into each phage capsid. The terminase protein cuts at the cos site, leaving 5’ or 3’ overhangs